


Good or Bad, I'll Love You Regardless

by Zombie2315



Category: Megamind (2010)
Genre: Established Relationship, F/M, Friendship, Hints to sex, Pregnancy, Reader has sad backstory, Roxanne/Metro Man if you squint at the very end, little bit of language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-18
Updated: 2018-06-18
Packaged: 2019-05-25 03:20:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,473
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14968001
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zombie2315/pseuds/Zombie2315
Summary: Megamind was a lonely kid. Not many people will tell you that their only childhood friend was a talking alien fish, but for the first few years of his life, that was a reality for him. One afternoon, while the young blue boy scribbled some new designs for gadgets and gizmos, his whole future is twisted and changed by the approach of another recluse in his class. He knew (Y/N) wasn't one for talking and she especially wasn't one for swooning over the ever-loved Metro Boy, yet he was shocked to say the least when the first sentence he ever heard leave her mouth was to ask him what he was designing. He wouldn't remain oblivious to the blooming emotion that is love for much longer.(Megamind belongs to Dreamworks, as well as the plot of the movie and the characters, I changed very few things and inserted the reader into the story for reading pleasure.)





	Good or Bad, I'll Love You Regardless

**Author's Note:**

> So I watched Megamind for the first time a few weeks ago and ended up turning into a super thirsty boi. This fic was written purely to indulge my own fantasies, but I do hope that some other Megamind lovers can quench their need for this blue baby with this fic because there really aren't many 'x readers' out there for this fandom.
> 
> Hopefully my obsession with finishing this one-shot doesn't go to waste because I'm pretty embarrassed to admit that I have thirteen fics yet to be finished and nine fics yet to even be started. Most of those don't even cover the requests I've been getting. I'm selfish but I have a Mega crush on the big-headed alien so please don't hate me! <3

**Reader’s POV**

 

Our first meeting was back in our school days, the boy who walked into the Lil’ Gifted School was hard to miss thanks to just how gifted he was. Everyone had their eyes on him, though I was the only one that seemed to hold the capability to look away, and it didn’t take long for me to realize I wasn’t a fan of this kid.

 

Metro Boy was full of himself, always showing off to the teacher and other students and thriving off their approval. This is why he never ceased to vie for my attention.

 

Every day he would use his powers to wow me the same way they amaze everyone else, but it just wasn’t working. That was probably why I clung to the new kid that came to school during the day and back to the neighbouring prison at night. Megamind was beyond smart and always talked passionately about his designs and inventions; few knew that he could talk so awesomely because I was the only one that _wanted_ to listen. The day he told me that it must be his destiny to act the part of a villain, I made it clear that I would stand by him the whole way.

 

We were best friends growing up and as he was continuously in and out of prison, I soon developed the same tendency, most of the time requiring his help to get out again. I wasn’t nearly as smart as the advanced being from another planet but, on the odd occasion, I would successfully manage the escape on my own, much to his pride.

 

It was in our late teenage years that things between us started to border friends and more. We were already considered the city’s biggest criminals, like Bonnie and Clyde with less intention to murder, though Mega definitely expressed enough distaste for Metro Boy -soon to be Metro Man- that would suggest he wasn’t opposed to the idea. The first time we stopped caring about the city for one day was when he built a super motorcycle that sped around faster than any other on the planet, the day ending with a very nervous first kiss.

 

Intimacy was, much to my amusement, something he never seemed to get used to. Not to mention the fact he was always too nervous to initiate anything more than a kiss; his eyes would light up when I made it obvious that I was in the mood. Every private moment we spent together ended with him smiling like the cat that caught the canary while I just laid back, smiling at the oddity that I gradually fell more and more in love with.

 

Shortly after reaching adulthood, he asked me to move in with him. My initial reaction was to be sarcastic: “What? You want to ask the prison guards to build us a shared cell with two chairs?”, but he merely laughed at the silly comment and drove me towards the edge of town where nothing but an abandoned factory remained. His plan was that we would make the stone building our own – half home, half evil lair. And so we did, a few years later and it was all ours: an office furnished to be a very comfortable bedroom, the main factory floor designed to serve as the lair with computer monitors over almost every corner and a few smaller rooms modified for the necessities such as a bathroom and kitchen.

 

I couldn’t ask for a better life.

 

The vague memory drifted through my mind that today was the grand unveiling of the Metro Man Museum and I yawned, arms and legs stretching out so far that the beige bed covers slid off them. Usually I would take my time getting out of bed, but between todays plans and the uncomfortable mattress I decided to get straight up, hands tugging slightly at the hem of the long-sleeve white shirt.

 

“C’mon, inmate. Shower time in ten minutes.”

 

I turned my head to see the young guard standing at the cell door, his eyes portraying a look of confidence before falling into nervousness. I enjoyed when the younger guards were on duty because it was too easy to fluster them. “Would it be too much to ask that I go now? Being in with the other women makes me nervous…” I fluttered my eyelashes for added effect.

 

It seemed to work as he looked up and down the hall, “Fine, but you need to be cuffed on the way there.”

 

My back faced him as he entered the cell, the handcuffs on his belt now keeping my wrists bound behind my back and his hand on my shoulder began to escort me towards the showers. “Thank you, sir.” The way he cleared his throat made it clear that he was trying to keep his professional composure. He removed the cuffs when we entered to bathroom, his jaw clenched as he waved me towards the large hamper full of clean towels. With my footsteps echoing further towards the shower stalls, he turned away and stood around the corner of the tiled room, offering me the privacy I needed.

 

One of the worst parts about prison was the water pressure and every time I was locked up I would long to go home just for a better shower. Once my hair was properly lathered and rinsed, I opened the shower curtain and splashed the water out of the cubicle, hands lathering up the small bar of soap and spreading it over the wet floor. When the floor looked sufficiently unsafe, I sat on the tiled floor just beyond the weak spray of the shower head and let my feet stick out under the now-closed curtain.

 

I took a deep breath in and yelled with faux panic, “Ah! Help! Someone help!”

 

The audible scuffling of the alerted guard was heard right before a squeak, surprised yell, and finally a thud. I pushed myself up and grabbed the white towel that I had placed over the cubicle wall, wrapping it tightly around myself after turning the shower off. Stepping out carefully, I avoided slipping on the tiles and leaned down to check the unconscious guard. Luckily, he hadn’t hurt himself too much and there was no bleeding. To make sure he couldn’t get far in case he woke up, I placed the cuffs around his wrists -behind his back the same way he did to me before- after taking his blue uniform button-up off and leaving the white undershirt alone. Next was to steal the pants and shoes. Thankfully nothing was too damp, but I still allowed them a moment to dry by waving them out a little.

 

If my assumption was correct, I had, at most, four minutes to walk out of the building before he would be found by the other inmates. I grabbed the dark blue hat that had fallen off of the man when he fell and tucked my hair underneath it as much as I could and began my fast-paced stroll towards the prison entrance.

 

On my way there, I received glances from many of the guards, some mumbling about the ‘unfamiliar guard’ or how I resembled the inmate in block C. It was amusing just how slow they were. A slight pang of worry went through me when an arm was slung over my shoulder and the voice of the warden chuckled, but upon noticing the black and silver watch only inches from my face, I grinned.

 

“And here I was thinking you’d have gotten out hours ago.”

 

“I can’t leave my favourite human to escape alone can I?” We proceeded to casually walk past the rushing prison guards into the open air outside, not one of them questioning the warden and a fellow guard heading in the opposite direction to them.

 

The guard on duty in the booth merely gave Megamind a relaxed solute, not even noticing the invisible vehicle pull up until the window had rolled down. “Well hello, good-looking! And (Y/N), perfect as always. Need a lift?” Minion had, at first, been suspicious of my friendship with Mega. All the other kids treated him like a pest, like he was so different that they couldn’t even try to understand him, so why would this petite young girl want to befriend the blue boy he guarded? Eventually, though, he saw how much I cared, and upon realizing that I had very few loved ones in my life he decided to be a guardian of sorts.

 

“Certainly do, you fantastic fish, you!” Mega laughed as he pulled me into the car before Minion did a tailspin, his robotic foot hitting the accelerator to propel the car forward. “Whoo! We’re free!” he cheered, hands shaking me with excitement as the watch’s cloaking device faded away. “Nice work sending me the watch Minion!” The two continued their excited exchange until Mega turned to me with a grin on his face, “And nice work to you too, my dear.”

 

I chuckled and pulled off the hat to let my damp hair down, “I live to impress.”

 

“Why is your hair wet?”

 

“It was shower time,” I shrugged. His suspicious eyes made me giggle, “Don’t worry, it was only one guard and he was knocked unconscious before he saw anything.” I always found his small moments of jealousy adorable.

 

He shook his head, “I have no idea why you think I’d be worried- That’s silly- You-you don’t, uh…”

 

“It’s perfectly natural to be jealous, sir.”

 

“Minion!”

 

 

Upon arriving home, my first task was to change into more comfortable clothes than a male prison guard uniform while Mega and Minion took a passed out Roxanne to the lair. I didn’t want to cause any worry between the guys by letting them know how sickly I’d been feeling, but now that the nausea that had been scarce for the past few hours had returned, I figured it would be hard to look at them and act perfectly fine. Mega and I had been in prison for the past week and I didn’t want to lie to him, he was already unaware of the small bout of sickness I felt before going in and he deserved to know if it continued for this long.

 

On the way to the lair I grabbed a cold glass of water from the kitchen, eyes diverted towards the floor and smile taking over my face when Mega’s eccentric voice rang out, “You can scream all you wish, Miss Ritchi! I’m afraid no one can hear you!” Only silence followed and I knew she was watching him blankly. Walking around one of the large computer towers, I saw Mega watching a smug Roxanne with a confused gaze, “Wha-? Why isn’t she screaming?”

 

“Miss Ritchi, if you don’t mind,” Minion asked politely.

 

“Like this:” my partner began, mouth and eyes open wide as a pretend scream came from his throat, “But that’s… that’s a poor lady scream.” The robotic pet on his lap clamped it bear-trap for a mouth down over his hand and a very real and very high-pitched scream was now bouncing off the walls.

 

Roxanne smirked, “He’s a little better.” While Mega wrestled with the tiny beeping robot, she caught sight of me wandering over, “Oh, hi (Y/N). Good to see you.”

 

“I doubt that, considering I’m not the one tied up,” I smiled. “It’s not too warm in here for you, is it? I feel a little hot.”

 

As she shook her head, Minion leaned around the woman in the red dress, “Perhaps you have a fever? You should be resting if you temperature is abnormal!”

 

Offering the fish a kind “I’m fine”, the brunette woman started questioning the layout of the lair while I moved to pull the brainbot off Mega’s arm. “Is there some kind of nerdy supervillain website where you get Tesla coils and blinky dials?”

 

Minion was smiling now, “Actually, most of it comes from an outlet store the boss found while taking (Y/N) on a date in-“

 

“Don’t finish that!” Mega demanded with wide eyes, his blush impossible to see thanks to the permanent pink tint on his cheeks and ears, but I knew it would be there if it could be.

 

The fish’s eyes flickered between the alien curled into the high-backed chair and me as I tried to open the robot’s mouth. “… Romania,” he whispered.

 

“Don’t! Stop!” Pulling the bot away from my hands, he wheeled towards the hostage and robotic-bodied fish, “She’s using her nosy reporter skills on your weak-willed mind to find out all our secrets.” Poor Minion gasped with a look of betrayal behind the glass. “Such… tricks… won’t work… on me,” he gloated, pushing the rolling chair around Roxanne with a smug look on his face.

 

She only smiled, “Please talk slower.”

 

“… temptress!” I shook my head with a small smile, loving how he tried to be intimidating.

 

The woman in the centre of the room rolled her eyes with disbelief, “What secrets? You are so predictable.”

 

Seeing where this situation was going, I moved to grab a spare chair and watched the man I consider a boyfriend try to scare the reporter. Alligators, guns, saw blades and metal grinders swung about the room but I tried to focus more on my breathing, eyes closed in an attempt to block out distractions and push down the returning nausea. I only reopened them when Mega started screaming again, the blue villain laid on the floor while clutching his face and complaining about a spider bite.

 

“Give it up, Megamind. Your plans never work!” Roxanne almost sounded sorry for him, but her exasperation was all he could see.

 

He groaned, looking a bit beaten down, “Let’s stop wasting time and call your boyfriend in tights, shall we?” His attempt at regaining his composure was foiled as a brainbot dropped down and bit onto his hand again, resulting in another shrill scream. Feeling bad about his current state, I got up and tried to help him again.

 

The brainbot eventually let go and floated away and Megamind stood over the large console where everything was operated from. He was cradling his left arm to himself but was obviously trying to hide any weakness. “You okay, Mega?” I asked quietly.

 

“Of course I am, my evil queen.” I wanted to smile at the nickname, blush even, but right now I needed to help him regain his confidence.

 

“The brainbots should be in position outside the museum. Everything is ready when you are.” I kissed his pink cheekbone and ran a gentle hand over his sore one. The reassurance seemed to be enough to kickstart movement in him, but his eyes didn’t quite seem in the game. “Hey,” I stopped him before he pulled the lever to release the giant smog machine, “You’re gonna do great. I believe in you.”

 

With my hand over his, his eyes suddenly hardened and a confident smile was finally shown; we both gripped the lever and pulled it together. It took mere seconds before the projection bots had activated and plastered the image of Megamind across the tall walls of the museum. I backed away and sat in his ‘villain chair’ but remained in the camera’s view.

 

“Megamind!” Metro Man hissed in front of his adoring crowd.

 

“Oh, bravo, Metro Man!” Mega applauded sarcastically as the crowd booed. He couldn’t help himself and began mimicking them, “Boo! Yes, I can play along too. Boo!”

 

“Should have known you’d try to crash the party,” the hero in white smirked.

 

Mega danced on his toes, “Oh, I intend to do more than crash it! This is a day you and Metrocity shall not soon forget!”

 

Appealing to the people as always, Metro defended, “It’s pronounced Metro City!”

 

“Oh, potato-tomato, potato-tomato.” I squinted blankly as I thought about his comparison and phrasing of the words’ pronunciations.

 

“We all know how this ends… With you behind bars. (Y/N) too!”

 

“Oh, I’m shaking in my custom baby seal leather boots!” While the crowd may think I’m smiling at a cruel comment, I’m actually smiling at the blatant lie about them even being made from baby seals. Mega knows I love animals and wouldn’t even dream of hurting or wearing a young one for fashion. “You will leave Metrocity or this will be the last you ever hear of Roxanne Ritch! Huh?” he gestured left since one of the projections now showed a tied up, yet relaxed, Roxanne.

 

The crowd gasped. “Roxanne! Don’t panic, Roxie. I’m on my way,” Metro Man assured her.

 

“I’m not panicking.”

 

“In order to stop me, you need to find me first, Metro Man,” Mega drawled.

 

Roxanne grinned calmly, “We’re at the abandoned observatory.”

 

“No, we’re not! Don’t listen to her. She’s crazy,” he jumped in an act of panic that only Minion and I knew was false. This had to be convincing and we knew she’d fall right into the trap of telling Metro Man where we were. Or, where she thought we were.

 

When the city’s hero flew upwards to get above the dark smog, I pressed a blue button and the screens went black, the projection robots now retreating from the scene. I leaned against the console and exchanged a patient look with my partner in crime.

 

“Metro Man approaching, sir.”

 

After hearing Minion’s statement, Roxanne laughed, only to have Mega laugh back at her and the two went back and forth until he pointed at me with a look of victory. I pulled a smaller lever in the middle of the console and every weapon around the woman in the red dress retreated to its hiding place, her eyes portraying confusion until she braced herself for Metro Man to barrel through the ceiling.

 

But nothing happened.

 

“Oh, good heavens!” the villain gasped, hand over his heart with fake surprise. The large doors of the copper ceiling began to open, “You didn’t think you were in the real observatory, did you?” The white and gold observatory sat atop the hill in the distance and I’d never seen the reporter look more terrified. “Ready the death ray, Minion.”

 

“Death ray readying.”

 

One of the projection bots from before was now powering up from within the real observatory, Megamind’s blue face looming over the trapped hero, “Over here, old friend. In case you haven’t noticed, you’ve fallen right into my trap.”

 

“You can’t trap justice. It’s an idea, a belief.”

 

“Even the most heartfelt belief can be corroded over time.”

 

Metro Man smirked, “Justice is a non-corrosive metal!”

 

“But metal can be melted by the heat of revange!”

 

He was getting sick of the back and forth now, “It’s _revenge_ , and it’s best served cold!”

 

Mega, however, was just getting started, “But it can be easily reheated in the microwave of evil!” As exasperated as I felt from the nausea and the current conversation, I needed to stand here with Mega to support him. So, instead of leaving to find peace away from the noise, I remained standing, listening.

 

“I think your warranty’s about to expire.”

 

“Maybe I’ve got an extended warranty!”

 

“Warranties are invalid if you don’t use the product for its intended purposes!”

 

Finally, an equally fed up voice groaned, “Girls, girls! You’re both pretty. Can I go home now?” I offered Roxanne a sympathetic glance, hoping that she understood I knew how frustrating it was to stand and listen to the two bicker endlessly.

 

“Of course. That is, if Metro Man can withstand the full concentrated power of the sun! Fire!” I held my breath, as did Mega. His face was close to the screen where Metro Man’s face remained unfazed by the threats presented to him. Finally, I released my breath and heaved a sigh, a moment passing before Mega eventually did the same. He frustratedly asked what was taking so long, only to be annoyed by Minion’s answer that the death ray was warming up. They bickered for a second and Roxanne brought up the previously discontinued Frequent Kidnapping cards, meanwhile I kept my eyes on the screen where Metro Man was trying and somehow failing to break through the copper roof of the observatory tower.

 

“Ciao-ciao all!”

 

“Same time next week?”

 

I rolled my eyes angrily before turning around, “Guys!” I grunted, shortly followed by a groan of pain from the computer.

 

“Fargin’ dag crab nuggets!” the hero yelled nonsensically.

 

Mega spun on his heels, looking at the screen quizzically, “What did he just say?”

 

While I muttered “No god damn idea”, Minion offered a more accurate suggestion, “’Crab nuggets’?”

 

“Fackled fish-cracker!” he grunted out again, “Good lord, I’m trapped!”

 

Even the genius Megamind couldn’t quite believe it, “What kind of trickery is this?”

 

“You mad genius! Your dark gift has finally paid off!” He looked weak as he laid on the red-painted X. Weaker than the ‘great hero’ ever has.

 

“It… it has?”

 

I started to zone out again in order to focus on breathing, taking a few steps away with a hand over my chest. The building need to throw up was nearly overwhelming, but by keeping myself relaxed and steadying my breathing, it subdued itself. I was shaken from my moment of mental peace when a loud explosion rang out and the ground shook. Debre rained through the dome’s opening and thankfully I was far enough away that various instruments around the room blocked any from hitting me.

 

Looking up, I saw both Mega and Minion climbing to their feet. “Was that…?” I didn’t know what to say next, only knowing that my mind was telling me to approach my closest companion and pull the cape off of his head.

 

“I don’t think even he could survive that,” Minion coughed despite his lungs being inside his small fish body, protected by a glass helmet.

 

Not ready to believe without seeing, Mega places his arm around me while waiting in anticipation, “Well, let’s not get our hopes up just yet.”

 

Minion gasped suddenly, “Look!” He was pointing to where a plume of smoke raised upwards faster than the cloud beneath it.

 

“Metro Man!” the news reporter breathed with relief.

 

My boyfriend smiled, “Metro Man.” His green eyes suddenly went wide and he was corralling me off to the side, “Metro Man!” Right after I left the section of light shining in through the large doors, Mega was thrown back as something crashed into him. The sight of a white cape with golden accents made the answer obvious, but what we all saw next was shocking, even to me and Mega. He scrambled when the cloak was moved to reveal a bare skeleton on top of him, Roxanne letting out a gasp of surprise while I tried to hide the rising sickness again.

 

“You… you did it, sir.”

 

“I did it?”

 

Live, in front of the whole city, Megamind cheered. His victory over Metro Man and Metro City had been seen by all; an unforgettable event where the villains won and the hero was… dead. After the initial shock, I hugged him, telling him that I was proud of him and knew he’d achieve his goal eventually.

 

Roxanne watched with a downtrodden, yet angry, expression. Minion soon knocked her out with the same gas he’d used earlier and I offered to take her home while the boys celebrated, insisting that I was fine with being left out and wanted to get some rest soon.

 

 

I somehow spent longer sleeping than I’d intended and woke up quite late the next day. Since I still felt a small ounce of fatigue lingering, I showered before making the thirty minute walk to City Hall where Mega had been planning to stay as a show of power now that the city was at his mercy. On the way there I saw all sorts of chaos: closed shops with blue spray paint splashed over the windows and parasols, tall buildings with targets painted on the side and fire trucks in the centre of each one – I guessed the reason I only saw two was because they ran out of fire trucks, and while looking at all of this, I genuinely didn’t know how to feel.

 

Maybe this wasn’t what my parents would have wanted from me, but then again, maybe by supporting Megamind, this is my retaliation towards the city for failing me. For failing them…

 

I forced myself away from the thoughts when I reached the steps outside the white building that’s roof had now been painted blue and pushed on through the front doors. Every room in the building seemed to be stacked wall to wall with stolen items from all over the city. Paintings from the museum, money from the bank, even cakes from my favourite bakery.

 

I couldn’t resist smiling upon noticing this, “You handsome blue devil…”

 

I decided to head upstairs to find my favourite person in the city, definitely not expecting him to swing around the doorway at the top of the stairs and point the dehydration gun at me. I jumped with surprise and grabbed onto the support railing to stop myself from falling, smiling as he fumbled with the gun before rushing forward to make sure I didn’t slip.

 

“Oh god, my sweet, I’m so sorry! I heard the door and thought someone had snuck in!” I cut off his apologetic rambling by pulling him away from the stairs and wrapping my arms around his middle, head nuzzling into his chest. It took him a second to understand that I wasn’t upset and his arms pulled me into him a few more inches. “You’ve been gone all day.”

 

“Would you believe me if I said I was asleep the whole time?”

 

He pulled away slightly to look down at me, “Honestly? Yes, yes I would.” I giggled bashfully, revelling in the comfort of his arms. Something in his green eyes flickered, a mix of love and nervousness clear as day, but maybe there was something else? Confidence? … Desire?

 

My question was answered when he leaned down to capture my lips in a soft kiss, seconds passing before it deepened into a more passionate one. One of his hands went from my back to the nape of my neck, pulling gently to bring me as close as I wanted to be and I moved my hands to snake around him and rest on his shoulders. This was the first time he’d ever started a moment like this – it was always a big step in confidence to initiate intimacy, but it seemed like he was braving himself to ask through this quickly heated kiss. Before I had a chance to unclasp the M shaped broach that held his cape over his shoulders, my stomach began to churn and a light suffocating feeling built in my throat.

 

I quickly pulled back, hands grasping at Mega’s shoulders around the spikes of his cape and head turned downward; my eyes were closed tightly as I forced myself to breathe through the bout of nausea I hadn’t expected to make a return. “(Y-Y/N)?” I slowly gulped down the burning feeling that tried to build in the back of my throat and opened my eyes to see the worried eyes of my lover. “Oh no… I-I did something wrong, didn’t I?” My eyes widened to match his own at the question. He thought that I’d pulled away because I was rejecting his advances.

 

“God no. No, no, no. It wasn’t anything you did, Mega! I promise you, it’s not your fault,” I gasped out hurriedly. “I’ve just been feeling so awful lately and I don’t know why. Nausea, heat flushes, the desire to eat popcorn even though I hate it.” His lips quirked into a tiny smile. “I know it takes a lot for you to come to me like this and I am so, _so_ sorry that I ruined it.”

 

He shook his head, “Darling, don’t say that. It’s not your fault you feel sick. I just wish I knew what to do, I’m not very knowledgeable when it comes to human sickness. Or… sickness at all, really.” I giggled at his truthful words. Growing up, he’d never developed the same knowledge that he would have on his home planet and therefore could never be sure of how to do certain things. If he were to get sick -which was thankfully a rare event- he wouldn’t know how to treat it unless he ran tests on himself and he certainly never took the time to brush up on the wide history of human medicine. He could probably identify the odd pain killer, but that was about it. “Why don’t we go sit down for a while?”

 

 

**Third Person POV**

 

“He was always there for us. Dependable. Perhaps we took him for granted. Maybe we never really know how good we have it until it’s gone. We miss you, Metro Man. I… miss you. And I just have just one question for Megamind: are you happy now? This is Roxanne Ritch, reporting from a city without a hero. Coming up next: ‘Are you ready to be a slave army? What you need to know’.”

 

Megamind sighed as he cradled the woman who meant so much to him in his arms, eyes turning away from the news report that only further made his mood deteriorate. He used only his feet to spin the chair around so it faced the large window without disturbing his sleeping love. The doubts had been clawing at him all day; was it a mistake to kill Metro Man? Did he really want to rule over the city with an iron fist? He just wasn’t so sure anymore.

 

Breathing a second sigh, he made sure he had a secure hold on the sleeping woman and shuffled himself off the tall chair, leaning down to carefully place her in a comfortable position before sneaking out of the building.

 

He made it all the way across the street in his pyjamas to the Metro Man Museum, though now it was considered more of a memorial. He needed to speak and get something off his chest before going through with his main plans for tonight. Riding the elevator to the platform around the back of the building, he leaned against the glass railing and watched the giant statue spin, “I’ve made a horrible mistake. I didn’t mean to destroy you. I mean, I meant to destroy you, but I didn’t think it would really work. I’m so tired of running rampant through the streets.” His hand clutched the stems of the yellow roses he’d stolen from a florist on the way there. “What’s the point of being bad when there’s no good to try and stop you? … I had so many evil plans in the works. The illiteracy beam, typhoon cheese… robo-sheep…” his voice broke slightly. “Battles we will now never have.”

 

The large headed man didn’t know it, but the end of his sentence echoed just loud enough around the statue that a sombre Roxanne Ritchi became curious from the opposite side of the catwalk. “You know, I never had the chance to say goodbye. So it’s goo that we have this time now.” Reaching his hand into the bouquet, he grabbed into the small detonator that read ‘3:00’ in red LED letters, “You know, before I destroy the place.” Without any hesitation, he flipped the latch that kept the button underneath safe and pressed down on the red plastic. “Nothing personal, it just brings back too many painful memories.

 

Before he turned away, he dropped the flowers off the edge with the detonator that was caught less than a foot off the ground by a brainbot, others surrounding the feet of the statue and lining almost every inch with C4 explosives.

 

The brunette reporters curiosity got the best of her as usual and she called out to the mysterious sound, “Hello? Hello?” Megamind gasped, clearly not expecting anyone else to be in the building or around the statue this late at night. He looked down at himself and realized that he couldn’t confront anyone while dressed in the pyjamas and slippers (Y/N) bought him for Christmas; he loved them, but it would be awfully embarrassing to be seen in them outside. Mega ran as fast and quietly as he could on the glass platform, looking back to make sure she wasn’t too close, but was stopped by an unexpected obstacle that collided with his gut.

 

“That’s a pretty tasteless consume,” the brown-haired man in glassed drawled, hands still resting on the handle of the book cart he hadn’t even tried to move before the alien crashed into it.

 

Mega’s eyebrows creased in confusion, “Costume?”

 

“Megamind’s head is not that grossly exaggerated.” The blue man ignored the humans bored blabbering and pulled out his dehydration gun, desperately trying to find the right setting. “Ah, you even made a cheap replica of his dehydration gun. How…”

 

Roxanne slowly crept around the corner, still calling out in hopes that someone might respond and just missing the sight of the city’s villain scrambling to collect a dehydrated Bernard, the man’s glasses and his cell phone. All she caught was the now disguised form of her least favourite person as of late, “Oh, whoo!” She laughed for a second to rid herself of the surprise, “It’s just you, Bernard.”

 

“Oh, yes! It’s just me. _Bernard_.” Mega kept his back to the oblivious woman and straightened out his glasses.

 

The reporter breathed, “Well, thank you for letting me stay.”

 

“I wouldn’t stay here for more than two minutes and thirty-seven seconds,” he stumbled as he rapidly pressed the elevator’s call button. “We’re having the walls and ceiling removed.”

 

He flung himself into the lift as soon as the doors were open and Roxanne watching him strangely, “That sounds like quite the renovation. Guess I’ll, um-” Last second, right before the doors closed, she slid into the elevator and stood beside Mega with her hands behind her back, “-catch a ride down with you then.” He nervously laughed but kept his mouth shut and body straight as the box started moving down. Roxanne tried to keep the smile on her face, but the thought she was voicing was too sad for her, “I kept thinking he was gonna do one of his last-minute escapes.”

 

“Yeah,” Mega relaxed a little, “He was really good at those.”

 

She sighed, “If only the world had a resent button.”

 

“I’ve looked into the resent button. The science is impossible! My wife and I are losing all hope!” he almost cried out in shame.

 

The doors opened to the second level of the building and the two stepped out, “Bernard. I didn’t know you had… feelings. Are you and your wife okay?”

 

“Metro Man’s gone. Now there’s no one left to challenge Megamind.”

 

“Oh… Come on, Bernard, as long as there’s evil, good will rise up against it.” When Mega doubted her statement again, she gave him a hard look, “I believe someone is gonna stand up to Megamind. It’s like they say, ‘heroes aren’t born, they’re made’.”

 

This made him stop in his tracks, green eyes flicking from side to side at the idea, “Heroes can be made… That’s it! All you need are the right ingredients.”

 

“Yeah! Bravery.”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Strength.”

 

“Of course!”

 

“Determination.”

 

“Imperative!” Mega danced towards a statue of the molecular structure, “And a smidgen of DNA. With that, anyone can be a hero!”

 

“Yeah!”

 

He laughed with excitement and swung Roxanne around by her hands, stopping to look down at his beeping watch with a wide grin, “I think we should run!”

 

 

**Reader’s POV**

 

I stood tiredly and watched Minion question Mega’s motive behind building a brand new hero. On any other occasion I might be more supportive and understanding of the situation, but my head was spinning and my stomach was no better. When Mega came to pick me up from City Hall a few hours ago, asking if the explosion at Metro Man Museum had woken me up, I didn’t want to admit that it was the overwhelming need to puke that actually awoke me and agreed with him. I wasn’t even sure how long I’d spent hunched over the toilet, emptying the contents of my stomach, but I was lucky enough to stop just in time to gather myself and not cause Mega any panic.

 

Right now, however, I didn’t know if I could stay composed for much longer.

 

The odd chiming of what sounded like a cell phone drew my attention away from the flipping sensation in my stomach and I looked up to see Mega holding a large syringe that held a yellow glow beneath the glass. “What on earth is that?” he questioned, spinning in a circle to find the source.

 

Minion pointed to the pocket of Mega’s suit, “It seems to be emanating from there, sir.”

 

He answered the call quickly, “Ollo.” Minion promptly corrected him on the greeting and, for the first time in hours, I chuckled, “ _Oh_. Hello. Like that? … It’s Roxanne!” I tilted my head at the mention of the reporter, wondering both where Mega had gotten the cell phone in his hand and why Roxanne Ritchi would be calling it. “You inspired me too,” he said with a hint of smugness in his tone. “Really? She’s so cute! Uh-huh. And what gives you that idea?”

 

Minion began pointing to the black and white monitors that all displayed a large muted video feed of Roxanne speaking on the phone. That feed was linked to the security camera above the building’s secret entrance. “How did she find our hide out!? Uh… How did you find their hideout?” Whatever her reply was, it left Mega staring at the screen dumbfounded, “Okay… There’s no way she’ll find the secret entrance.” When the reporter disappeared from the screen, the blue man turned with frustrated but tied eyes, “Minion!”

 

“I kept forgetting where it was.”

 

“She’ll discover all our secrets! You dim-witted creation of science!” He scrambled to push the tall robotic body towards a metal cupboard and shut the alien fish inside. “What? Oh, not you, Roxanne. I was just yelling at… my mothers urn.” His eyes landed on me once the large red curtain was closed and kept his plans out of sight. “(Y/N)!” he whispered, “You look so pale! You shouldn’t be out here in case anything goes wrong…”

 

Despite the many questions I had for him, I could see the concern rising within him. I must really look as bad as I feel. “I’ll hide in the bathroom,” I nodded. At least this way I could spend the time he was distracting Roxanne letting my illness do its thing.

 

“Don’t do anything, I’ll be right there,” he spoke into the phone before kissing my cheek and darting away, one last worried glance over his shoulder being sent my way before he was out of sight.

 

 

Just like before, the pain of my stomachs convulsion seem to distract me from how much time was passing. I was only aware of nightfall when my partner knocked on the door and slowly pushed it open, “(Y/N)? Are you still in here? It’s been hours!” When I sat back against the side of the bath, he got a full view of my red eyes. “Oh, goodness, are you alright, my love?”

 

I smiled, offering him a tired but genuine smile, “Yeah, just a stomach bug. I didn’t realize how long you’d been gone.” I could still see the concern in his eyes, so after a moment of watching him, I reached my hands out in a silent request. He didn’t hesitate to wrap my hands in his own and pulled me carefully onto my feet, his arms quickly going around my waist to pull me into a comforting hug. “I love you,” I whispered into his neck as my arms slid over his shoulders and around him.

 

“I love you too, my dear.”

 

“Can we go to bed? I can’t seem to feel well-rested no matter how long I sleep,” I softly laughed, trying to alleviate his nerves. With a gentle smile, he slowly placed one arm behind my knees and lifted me into the air so he could carry me to the bedroom and, once there, laid me down with ease onto the soft mattress. I felt that now was a good time to ask my earlier wonderings, “What’s going on then? Where did you go after getting rid of Roxanne? And why was she calling you?”

 

He stared blankly for a moment, eyes blinking before he chuckled, “Oh, my sweet (Y/N)! Are you perhaps… jealous?”

 

“Wha-“ I stuttered, shaking my head with a joyful laughter, “I don’t- I don’t know, maybe I am. I’ve never exactly had to share you with anyone but Minion, so maybe I’m just not used to you talking to other people…” I kept my eyes on the ceiling as I talked, “I don’t mind you talking to other people, you know. I really don’t want to be one of those people that’s incredibly possessive over their partner, I’m just surprised that anyone is talking to you after the whole ‘supervillain takeover’.”

 

The shuffling of bedsheet and the feeling of the mattress dipping to my right was a clear indication that he was laying down. When his shoulder was pressed up against mine, I turned my head to the side so I could look into his eyes. “You have nothing to worry about, darling. I’ve been posing as a man named Bernard – I didn’t even plan to! It was just something that happened when I didn’t want Miss Ritchi to see me in my pyjamas at the Metro Man Museum.” I couldn’t resist giggling at that, knowing that he was embarrassed for anyone but me and Minion to see those night clothes. “ _Anyway_ , when she thought she was talking to Bernard, she gave me the idea that I could make a new hero! And that’s where I’ve been today – training Metocity’s new hero: Hal Stewart! I’m also taking it upon myself to befriend Miss Ritchi as Bernard since she could be useful. Believe me, you have nothing to worry about! She believes that dear Bernard has a wife and I highly doubt she’s the relationship type, herself.”

 

“She does seem far more invested in her work,” I agreed. A smile began to spread across my lips, “So… a wife, huh?”

 

The implication didn’t seem to register for a moment or two, but when it did, his bright green eyes were wide and he began to stutter, “Uh… I, uh… That-that is what I told her… yes…”

 

The grin on my face was impossibly wide now, “I love you.” I reached my hand up and placed it on his farthest cheek, pulling myself closer so I could kiss his left one, “And I trust you more than anyone. Don’t forget that.”

 

“And you are my perfect star.”

 

 

**Third Person POV**

 

A couple days passed since Megamind told (Y/N) his plans and throughout most of it, she’d been curling herself over the toilet seat and trying to ease the worries of a panicking Minion who constantly made her soup. She was almost relieved that Mega was preoccupied with training Hal and befriending Roxanne.

 

The tall blue alien had been very worried about his girlfriend, but understood that she wouldn’t want to be corralled by both himself and the robotic-bodied fish. So, instead, he put most of his focus on getting to know Roxanne and training Hal to be just as good as his predecessor while at night, he cradled his lover with a caring embrace. He’d taken quite a few suggestions from the fatigued woman about how to gain the reporter’s trust, things such as cleaning the streets, returning all the paintings to the museum -though that was mostly a preference for (Y/N)- and sharing book preferences at the library. When he wasn’t learning that the rumours of Roxanne Ritchi and Metro Man being a couple were false, he was putting Hal Stewart through various exercises to build his coordination, tact and focus. It was always easy for (Y/N) to tell that the redheaded man wasn’t making things easy for Mega, and she comforted him just as much as he comforted her.

 

“So, what are you doing tomorrow?” she asked, her voice quiet due to tiredness she couldn’t explain.

 

Megamind had to think for a second, his mind preoccupied as he concentrated on brushing his fingers through (Y/N)’s hair, “Hmm, Minion’s measuring me for my new cape and Roxanne wanted to go out for dinner.”

 

This brought a spark of curiosity to the weak woman, “Dinner? I thought you were just being friends?”

 

“What?” He was genuinely confused until he caught onto what was wrong: another hint of jealousy. Most people in his position might laugh and call such an accusation crazy, but he was far different from most people, “My dear, I assure you it’s nothing more than a friendly dinner!” His eyes were wide and nervous, not wanting to say the wrong thing and cause the only person he’s ever truly loved to doubt him. “She even invited my ‘wife’, but I told her the truth and said that she was sick.”

 

She watched him and gradually became more and more relaxed, “Okay, okay,” she giggled, hands pressing against his chest, “I believe you… and I love you.”

 

“I love you too, darling.”

 

 

As Mega stood on the platform, arms stretched out at either side, Minion continued to measure each adjustment that needed to be made to the cloth draped over the blue man’s shoulders. He wasn’t entirely focused on what the famed reporter Miss Ritchi was saying as her face was moving on over a dozen screen, but both (Y/N) and Mega were watching intently, smiling as the woman spoke in a hopeful tone all about the wonderful changes that Metro City had endured over the past week.

 

“Well, you two seem in a very good mood tonight.”

 

The curious voice of Mega’s trusted companion seemed to dance around his head before the words actually sunk in, “Oh, yes. How long is this going to take, Minion?”

 

“Just a few alterations and I will be done with your most terrifying cape yet! I’m calling it…” he looked down before taking a breath to build atmosphere, “The Black Mamba…” (Y/N) giggled at the way he dragged out the name until he was out of breath.

 

“Black Mamba. Perfect,” the evil genius brushed it off as the unfinished cape was lifted away from his shoulders by a few brainbots. “Ooh, gosh, I am running late. I have to go. (Y/N), you’re still feeling better? Do you need me to stay?”

 

She shook her head, taking a step closer to him and adjusting the large collar that flared out behind him, “I’m still doing okay. Pretty hungry, but okay. You go enjoy your evening.”

 

“What? Where are you going, sir? We have our debut battle with Tighten tomorrow morning. We haven’t even tested your big battle suit!”

 

(Y/N) watched the increasing anxiousness wash over her partner as the worry of Minion’s disapproval set in. “You attend to the details, Minion,” he smiled as if everything were fine, “I have to… run a quick errand.”

 

Minion was growing especially suspicious now, “You don’t run errands. What’s going on here?” He looked between the alien man and human woman with creased scales above his eyes.

 

“What?”

 

“Wait a minute…” The fish leaned closer and breathed in, the ventilation system in his suit filtering air and fragrance into the water surrounding him until he noticed something, “Are you wearing Jean-Paul Gaultier’s Pour Homme?”

 

Not wanting to admit that (Y/N) had previously helped him prepare for his dinner plans, Megamind came up with a terrible lie while acting nonchalant, “It’s just my natural musk. Now where are the car keys?”

 

His eyes landed on the small ring with a black button attached, the key surrounded by a few keyrings to make them look less plain. Just before he could grab them, however, a long robotic hand extended past him and swiped them out of reach. “This is about Miss Ritchi, isn’t it? You’re going on a date with her! How could you do that to (Y/N)?”

 

“No, my main man! Get out of town! I wouldn’t do such a thing to my beloved human.”

 

(Y/N) could feel how tense the situation was growing and it didn’t matter how carefree her lover was trying to act. “Oh, this is bad. This is bad. You’re friends with her! Dependant on her!”

 

“You are forgetting your place, Minion. Now give me the keys,” Mega demanded, the discomfort finally slipping through. He didn’t want to admit it, but (Y/N) knew that he was happy with letting people in, even if it was only her and Roxanne. He’d been so sectioned off all his life – growing up in a prison where he was caged away, attending a school where he was ostracised and then never being given a chance in adulthood because no matter what, Metro Man was the hero and he would always be pushed down. Nothing but a villain to anyone who didn’t try to look closer.

 

The now-anxious woman breathed, “Please, Minion, just give him the keys.”

 

But the scaly being wasn’t giving in that easily. His robotic hand was quickly extended far out of human reach, leaving Mega to stamp his foot in aggravation. “What happens when Roxanne finds out who you really are?” he chided.

 

“She will never find out. That’s the point of lying.” Waving a blue finger in the air, he pressed a small button on the robotic suit before him that caused the long arm to collapse, reeling itself in with the keys still grasped between the metal. Mega caught the keys as they flew past, but before he could reach the car, Minion pressed a button on the additional controls remote and the blue man quickly walked straight into what looked like distorted air. The car was only partially visible, thanks to the camouflage effect, but it was still incredibly easy to bump into. The two continued bickering back and forth while running around the car, Minion letting out a gasp when Mega stated that he didn’t want to be the bad guy anymore, but what broke (Y/N)’s heart was the betrayed look on the fish’s face as he talked about his soul purpose of looking after Mega. She had always admired how Minion stuck by his friend no matter what, like a ward that lived to protect him. Yet here they were, falling apart right in front of her.

 

“I don’t need you to look after me!”

 

“What’re you… What are you saying? You don’t need me…?”

 

Megamind spoke as strongly as he could despite the heartbreak in his eyes, “Let me make it clear… Code: I Don’t Need You!”

 

Swaying his glass helmet to the side, the car keys flung out onto the car bonnet and Minion marched over to a desk that held nothing but a lunch box and tub of fish food. “You know what? You know what? Code: I’ll Just Pack My Thing and Go!”

 

“Code: Fine!”

 

“Code: Fine, back!”

 

Hopping onto a large segway with spike-studded wheel covers, Minion wheeled himself away with the lunchbox in hand, the men spitting a few more nonsensical arguments before they were out of each other’s sight one and for all. The smaller woman slowly made her way to Mega’s side as he stared at the large metal door shutter. Her hand slowly went to his back, trailing under the cape and pulling him closer as if to hold pieces of broken glass together. She didn’t care if it hurt her, just as long as she could keep him whole while everything else crumbled around them.

 

“It’s fine, sweetheart. Really,” he whispered unconvincingly. He placed a gentle kiss to her temple before turning to the cracked mirror a few feet away. Time to become Bernard.

 

 

Unbeknownst to Mega and (Y/N), as one drove through the city and the other curled into the bed sheets with a movie on the TV, one Roxanne Ritchi had experienced the shock of a lifetime. The man she once called a co-worker was nothing like his old self – he was overly obnoxious, three times his size and had all the powers that Metro Man had before his untimely death. It took her a good thirty minutes to reach the bottom of the tall building she’d been abandoned on by ‘Tighten’ and an additional thirty to flag down a taxi and arrive at the restaurant where she’d agreed to meet with Bernard, thankful to see that her lateness hadn’t caused him to leave.

 

Short and banterous comments were shared as she sat down, mostly about her undignified hair style thanks to her experience with the city’s new ‘hero’. She barely took a breath before she delved into the topic, “Megamind’s created a new hero, and I know why. It all makes sense now! He missed getting his butt kicked, so he and (Y/N) created a new hero to kick it for him!” The camouflaged man went to take a nervous sip of water only to choke it back out. “But why Hal? Hal is the worst possible person you could pick.”

 

“Wow. That’s a lot to take in.”

 

“It… It boggles my mind!”

 

Trying to lighten the mood -mostly for himself- Mega joked, “I am extremely boggled. You know, I’m sure we’ll get to the bottom of who’s kicking whose butt, but in the meantime, let’s enjoy this. The here and now.”

 

“I’m sorry, Bernard,” Roxanne sighed bashfully, “Of course you’re right. You know, I could use a breather.” With a more relaxed smile, she raised her flute of champagne, “To Bernard… for being the only normal thing in my crazy upside-down world.”

 

Feeling more confident about himself, Mega raised his glass, “To… being normal.”

 

Neither of them seemed to be aware of the jealous eyes glaring at them through the second story window, the bulging man with fiery red hair slowly ascending away before his anger grew just as hot. Roxanne glanced over, but having missed the superhuman, she just assumed it was a trick of the mind.

 

“Roxanne?”

 

“Yes?” she chimed, welcoming the distraction from her thoughts.

 

Taking a glance around, Megamind thought through his sentences before speaking them, “Say I wasn’t so normal… Let’s say I was bald and had the complexion of a popular primary colour, as a random, nonspecific example… Would you still enjoy my company?”

 

“Of course,” the brunette replied without a second thought, “You don’t judge a book by its cover or a person from the outside.”

 

He breathed, “Oh! That’s a relief to hear.”

 

“You judge them based on their actions.”

 

Feeling like the conversation wasn’t going as well as it could have been, he shook his head, “Well, that seems kind of petty, don’t you think?” Not hearing a hint of seriousness, Roxanne laughed at the comment with so much ease that when she looked back to ‘Bernard’, a wave of comfort washed over them both. She didn’t know why, but after spending so much time depraving herself of interactions like these, her mind was telling her to get up from the table and hug him. So, she did just that. Mega revelled in the friendly action, noticing the difference between a hug with this woman and an embrace with his girlfriend. They were both equally important people that he felt he needed in his life, people who he could express himself with and grow closer to each day. The only thing that separated them was the chemical in his mind that compelled him to love (Y/N), and he would never dream of losing that feeling.

 

Both of them were surprised to hear gasps around them, but what pulled them out of the moment was cries of other customers. Who screams in a restaurant? It turns out that people who see the city’s well known villain hugging the much-loved TV personality scream in a restaurant.

 

“Don’t look at me!” he yelled after the woman in purple pushed him away. “Just a technical glitch! Don’t look yet!” He continued to switch between faces, accidentally landing on the prison warden before finally changing into the man he’d dubbed ‘space dad’. “Where were we?” he spoke with a lisp, arms extended towards Roxanne as if expecting the hug to presume.

 

She promptly threw her glass of champagne over the unfamiliar form and glared as Mega’s real form returned, “You…”

 

“Now, hold on…”

 

“You!”

 

Without letting him get another word in, she raced away from the table and out the door, eventually finding herself outside in the cold streets where rain pelted from the sky. Her pace slowed quickly once her dress had been drenched and weighed down, arms circling her middle in an attempt to keep herself warm. Mortified was the only feeling she could process in that moment.

 

The closest friend she had turned out to be the worst person in the city. How else was she supposed to feel?

 

She jumped as large piles of trash started appearing out of thin air. But she knew better – the rain was hydrating the small cubes left behind by Megamind during his cleaning spree, they were just too small to see without the unexpected downpour. Her second surprise since stepping into the streets was the invisible car screeching to a halt in front of her were the last person she wanted to see stepped out.

 

Turning around and walking in any direction that was away from him, she tried her best to ignore his begging for her to listen.

 

“What about everything you just said? About judging a book by its cover!”

 

Anger flared within her quickly upon hearing those words, “Let’s take a look at the contents, then, shall we? You destroyed Metro Man. You took over the city, and then you actually got me to care about you! Why are you so evil?” The pain in her voice was evident, and if the rain hadn’t been present, one might see the glassiness in her eyes. “Tricking me? What could you possibly hope to gain?” His silence gave her time to think, a conclusion slowly forming in her mind, “Wait a minute. Oh, I don’t believe this. Do you really think that I would ever be close to you?”

 

The question sent daggers through his heart and he chose to be truthful for the first time tonight, “No…”

 

This time, when she moved to walk away again, he didn’t stop her. Thunder rolled overhead and Mega decided that now was the time to give up. He’d tried. He’d failed. What more was there to do? He would always be that child that was looked down upon by everyone besides a lonely girl with no family. She was the only one that would ever understand because just like him, life had not been kind to her.

 

These thoughts may have lifted even just a bit had he noticed the fleeting glance Roxanne Ritchi spared him once his back was turned, but it was too late. He’d given in and wouldn’t let himself fall further this evening. He felt low enough.

 

 

He didn’t think to check on (Y/N) when he arrived home, assuming that she’d fallen asleep and deserved the rest after her past weeks of illness. When Minion wasn’t anywhere to be seen, Mega felt lost even in his own home. His green eyes locked onto the large board of images, diagrams and instructions, mind racing in all sorts of directions before landing on his final decision. He ordered the brainbots to bring his new cape, the long and majestic piece better than any fabric he’s worn before it, and once it was draped over his frame, he felt ready.

 

“Okay, Tighten. It’s time to go down in style!” He laughed maniacally as he pulled on the large white cloth, unveiling a robot that exceeded ten-times his height and was covered in similar threatening spikes to the shoulder covers of the Black Mamba. He was always one for fighting in style.

 

 

Come morning, citizens were running for their lives in the streets of Metro City while a determined Megamind marched through in his battle-ready bot. Back in Black blared through the speaker system to give him a sense of atmosphere, something to get his blood pumping and confidence high. “I hear there’s a new hero who dares challenge my evil! Where is the one they call Tighten?” he called out once perched on the dome of the city hall. He spun around the flag pole a few times while shooting fireworks in an attempt to get everyone’s attention, “Challenge me! If you dare!”

 

The theatrics would likely have been much more threatening or impressive, had Mega not stood there waiting for hours, the robot standing at attention while his confidence dwindled and the sky grew greyer. To keep himself distracted from the boredom, he eventually settled for picking up a red car in his robotic grasp and playing with it like an infant would.

 

When even that reached it’s depressing conclusion, the blue-skinned man sighed, “This is embarrassing.”

 

In an exhausted fit of anger, he bounced his way between buildings once again before reaching Hal Stewart’s house, large iron fist bursting through the window and resting on the ledge to provide Mega with a bridge into the apartment. He rambled on and on, temper untameable when the redhead didn’t seem to care about his presence or complaints.

 

Mega only stopped when he noticed the pile of money and odd trinkets at the far end of the room. It all looked awfully out of place for such a small and plain apartment.

 

“What’s this? Where did you get all this stuff?”

 

“It doesn’t belong to me,” Hal proudly whispered.

 

The alien’s eyes went wide, “You stole it!”

 

“Pretty cool, right?”

 

He rapidly shook his head, eyes closed in frustration, “no, no, no. You’re a hero!”

 

“Being a hero is for losers,” the taller man scoffed, eyes rolling to the side as if his actions were as simple as finding a stray dollar bill on the sidewalk. “It’s work, work, work, 24/7 and for what?” His expression grew angry as he started thinking about the news reporter, “I only took the gig to get the girl and it turns out Roxanne doesn’t want anything to do with me.

 

“Roxanne Ritchi?”

 

“Yeah, Roxanne Ritchi. I saw her having dinner and making googly eyes at some intellectual dweeb!” he huffed, jealousy lacing every word. He didn’t notice Mega’s awkward “Oh”, “Who needs all that noise? That’s why I think _we_ should team up!”

 

Megamind _really_ didn’t feel comfortable in this conversation anymore, “You… Wait. What?”

 

“With my power and your big-headedness, we could rule the city!”

 

“You want to team up?”

 

“I even drew up some new costume designs!” He presented him with a scrap of lined paper that was covered in little doodles, but the main feature was the drawings of both him and Hal as super-villains. Of course, due to his obnoxiousness, Hal was somewhat cooler looking in this reimagining. “You’d be the brains, so you get a little brain wearing glasses on your costume or something, and since I’m the cool one, I’d have, like, two tanks sword fighting or-”

 

“I can’t believe you,” Mega rushed as he tore himself away from Hal’s ‘friendly’ arm-over-the-shoulder. “All your gifts, all your powers, and you squander them for your own personal gain!”

 

Placing a finger on his nose, the muscular man pointed at Megamind with the other hand, “Yes!”

 

“No! I’m the villain! You’re the good guy! I do something bad and you come and get me. That’s why I created you!”

 

He only laughed and rolled his eyes again, “Yeah, right. You’re nuts! Space Dad told me-”

 

“Look, I’m your Space Dad!” Mega yelled as he turned the face of his watch, his form changing until he was camouflaged, “You should be more like Metro Man.” When Hal’s expression turned sour, the shorter man grinned and began backing away and out of the apartment’s new gaping window, “Oh, don’t like that, huh? Well, there’s more.” His appearance quickly switched to that of Bernard and he could see the recognition in Hal’s eyes, “I’m also the intellectual dweeb getting ‘googly eyes’ from Roxanne. And we were getting pretty familiar with each other!”

 

He quickly hopped into the large mechanical droid and before long, the two enemies were engaged in combat. Tighten struck the first blow and sent the giant hunk of machinery flying, Mega regaining his balance in the cockpit before standing up and taking a swing at the man flying towards him at top speed, “Evil returns with a backhand!”

 

Tighten was three feet under the concrete ground before his head popped out, eyes glaring daggers at Megamind from half a kilometre away. He went for the body slam again but was surprised to find that he couldn’t see Mega anywhere. “I want to see what that big brain looks like on the pavement!” Not realizing that the alien was playing a silent game of chicken, Hal glared in all directions and spun around when a heavy tap was placed on his shoulder. Barely a second later he was flung into a tall apartment building where a young couple were sharing Chinese food.

 

Tighten had had enough with this song and dance, resorting finally to battling it out with lampposts like it were a fencing match. Mega felt more confident than he had all day until his weapon was knocked away, metallic hands empty of anything to defend himself and his eyes widened as the bot that encased him was pummelled into the ground, then the air, then the ground again. Mega had clearly underestimated Hal’s bloodlust that thrived on his jealousy. When all hope was nearly lost, he pressed the large red button labelled ‘Press in case of emergency’ and now certainly felt like an emergency. His person was ejected from the battle bot and luckily, before his body could collide with a city bus, two brainbots swooped down to save the day.

 

Well, almost, since Hal Stewart was still chasing them with a fiery passion burning beneath his laser eyes.

 

A large white gas truck was knocked over during the pursuit and exploded almost immediately, the small bleeping brainbots losing their hold on their master and flying forward from the impact of the blast. As Mega dragged himself across the concrete road, he yelled in a panic for the brainbots to initiate “The fail-safe”.

 

Only a second before the new villain of Metro City could destroy the old one, a copper-looking dome was dropped on top of him, trapping him inside with no way out besides through it. “Guess what, Buster Brown? It’s made from copper. You’re powerless against it. It’s the very same metal used to defeat-“ he was cut off as a red and white arm burst through the orange/brown metal, “… Metro Man?”

 

“You should stop comparing me to Metro Man!” Had he not embodied superhuman strength, one might assume that it was pure anger that fuelled his ability to pick up the large copper dome and launch it in the retreating man’s direction. The only thing preventing Mega from being crushed was the underground railroad entrance that offered him his escape. “You can run, Megamind, but you can’t hide!”

 

 

Roxanne’s brow creased as her doorbell began dinging rapidly, a clear indicator that someone desperately wanted her attention, but who would need to talk to her that badly at this time of day?

 

She took one glance through the door’s peephole and sighed, “What do you want?” she huffed dismissively as the door caught on the latch, a large green eye peering through.

 

“Tighten’s turned evil.”

 

“Congratulations. Another one of your genius plans has backfired on you. And why did my doorman let you up?” Her eyes widened as she looked down at the hand extending between the crack in her door, Mega’s fingers clutching a small glowing blue cube. “Carlos,” she gasped. In retaliation towards his actions, she attempted to slam the door on Mega, but he pressed against it just as hard and pressed his face closer to the opening.

 

“Please, Roxanne, no! I need your help.”

 

She rolled her eyes, “Why do you need my help?”

 

Megamind sighed, hesitant but desperate, “Because you’re the smartest person I know.” Finally, she caved, letting the eccentric big-headed man into her home and he didn’t hesitate to start babbling a million words a minute. She tried to tell him that he wasn’t making any sense, but he only continued his thought process aloud, “If we don’t find Tighten’s weakness, he’ll destroy the whole city.”

 

Now, while he took a breath and looked mournfully out the window, Roxanne jumped in, “Okay. How can I help?”

 

“We need to find answers. You knew Metro Man best. Did he have a hideout? A cave? A solitary fortress of some kind? Anything that would give us clues.”

 

Her eyes flashed with recognition for a brief moment before she looked up, “Well, there is one place I know.”

 

 

“You gave him these powers. Can’t you just take them away?” Roxanne asked, brows furrowed as she pressed her foot down on the van’s accelerator pedal. The two were racing against the clock to reach Metro Man’s supposed hideout that was a good drive away from the city, but not so far that the city was out of view. In fact, plumes of black smoke were still clearly visible from Tighten’s continuous carnage.

 

Megamind sighed, “I can’t! I lost my defuser gun when I misplaced the invisible car… The night you left me. Alone. In the rain.” He didn’t see the increasing guilt on the woman’s face, but he did see the look of shock when he turned his sad eyes to her and spoke, “Did you ever look back?”

 

“No!” she yelled, foot hitting the breaks and sending Mega straight into the windshield.

 

He hunched into himself while cradling his scalp, “My giant blue head!”

 

“Whoops. I guess we’re here.”

 

They climbed out of the vehicle and Roxanne watched as the man foreign to earth looked longingly at an old wooden building that was barely big enough for multiple grown adults. “So, this is where he hid it. After all these years… My old shoolhouse.” She was tempted to reach out and comfort him, but restrained herself from showing too much kindness.

 

Instead, she brought up an old topic that she had never thought to question, “So this is where you, (Y/N) and Metro Man went to school? Lil’ Gifted’s?”

 

“Yes… Oh! That reminds me, I haven’t even heard from (Y/N) today. I need to see if she’s alright!” he jumped, eyes wide in the brunettes direction as he pulled out his phone and stood a few feet away from the van.

 

 

**Reader’s POV**

 

My fingers were flexing seemingly of their own accord, gripping the wheel tightly before loosening again and repeating the process. A small part of me was glad that I’d gone into autopilot while driving, the long and empty road not needing my full attention at the moment and giving me time to think.

 

I was shaken from my inner turmoil at the chiming of my phone’s ringtone. Carefully steering the car with one hand, I used the other to reach into my pocket and pull out the buzzing item. “Hello?” I asked, answering without even looking at the screen.

 

“ _(Y/N)? Are you alright? I’m so sorry I didn’t check on you or warn you before running off today! Is everything okay!?_ ”

 

“Whoa, wait a sec. Mega?” For a moment, all other thoughts escaped my mind and the current conversation was all that was important. “What are you talking about?”

 

“ _Hal- Tighten- He’s gone rogue! He wants to be a villain! Roxanne and I are looking for something to take him down at Metro Man’s hideout. Are you in a safe place right now?_ ”

 

Overwhelmed by his rushed sentences, I opted to focus on the question, “I, uh… I’m about thirty minutes outside Metro City. I was just running an errand and had to go to the next town over. I didn’t even know about Hal going crazy.”

 

“ _Okay! Good! You’re safe. Meet me at the old shoolhouse._ ” He explained where to find the schoolhouse that had been serving as some kind of home for Metro Man before his death and I assured him that I would be there soon. “ _I love you!_ ” he hurried out before hanging up.

 

I released a nervous breath, “Yeah… I love you too…”

 

 

_“Is this your first time?”_

_“Yeah. I’ve never really had any reason to worry before, but now that it’s looking like a very real possibility, I don’t exactly know what to do.”_

_The blonde woman offered me a sympathetic glance and continued to rearrange items on the metal table. “I noticed that we don’t have you in our system. Are you from out of town?”_

_I nodded, “Yes. I drove here from Metro City. It’s about an hour away.”_

_“Oh! I’ve always wanted to visit Metro City. There always seems to be something going on there, but news never gets past the local stations. Sounds like a very intimate city that keeps to itself.” Her expression went from calm and happy to excited, “Isn’t that the place where those superhumans live?”_

Superhumans. Aliens would be more accurate considering they’re not from earth. _“Yeah. One of those superhumans is actually the reason I’m here. It might be what has me most on edge…”_

_The sympathetic look came back, “Don’t worry, sweetheart. We’re gonna take a look and see what’s going on, if anything doesn’t look right then you’re in safe hands.” I breathed a small “Thank you” before lying flat against the leather bed._

 

 

I finally pulled up outside the small red structure and turned off the engine just in time to see Mega and Roxanne leaving through the open doorway. Their moods were drastically different – Roxanne was waving her arms every which way and rambling like a determined woman with nothing to lose while Mega just looked sullen. In that moment I empathised with his feeling of being lost, but I needed to speak with him no matter what else was going on.

 

“I say we go back to the evil lair, grab some ray guns, hold ‘em sideways and go all gangsta on him,” the news reporter finished with a determined look in her eyes.

 

Mega only deflated more, “We can’t.”

 

“Guys? What’s going on?”

 

“So that’s it? You’re just giving up?”

 

The two of them didn’t seem to be eager to explain the situation to me at the moment, my blue partner dropping a white cape from his shoulders and turning to face Roxanne, “I’m the bad guy. I don’t save the day. I don’t fly off into the sunset and I don’t deserve to get the girl.” His green eyes were dimmer than usual as they offered me a sideways glance. “… I’m going home.”

 

It only took mere seconds for the meaning of his words to sink in, “Mega, no-“

 

“It’s okay, (Y/N). Please just stay with Metro Man, you’ll be safer with him.”

 

Too many things were coming to light in such a small space of time that the words I’d been planning to say to him on the drive here were suddenly caught in my throat. _Metro Man is alive, Hal Stewart is a super villain, Megamind is walking himself back into prison and I’m… I’m alone_.

 

Before I could make sense of everything in my head, Mega was out of sight and I was left alone with a nearly-hopeless Roxanne Ritchi. “Surely there’s something we can do. (Y/N), come on, don’t you have any ideas? You’re the only person that might actually be able to think like Megamind, can’t you think of any winning solution he would have if he hadn’t given up?”

 

I released a breath and shook my head, “I can’t, Roxanne.”

 

“You mean you’re giving up too? You’re going to let the city burn without even trying-”

 

“I’m pregnant.” Despite my voice being as small as a mouse, I knew she’d heard me because her berating words ceased to be voiced. My shaking fingers reached into the pocket of my thin jacket and pulled out a small square of paper. “How am I supposed to protect something that small when I know for a fact I can’t even protect myself?” She slowly accepted the black and white image from my hands, her eyes blinking until they saw it – the small shape that was living inside of me. A life that didn’t know anything about the outside world and was at risk of never seeing it if I ran back into the city. “I’m scared. So god damned scared, Rox-“

 

She stopped me, a gentle hand going to my arm and giving it a reassuring squeeze. “Megamind was right, you should stay with Metro Man for a while. He’ll keep you safe.” She didn’t give me much of an opportunity to respond when she was jogging back towards the news van, engine revving before she swung it around and raced off back towards the city.

 

With no idea of what to do next, I turned to the old schoolhouse and convinced my legs to start moving, hands moving along the dark walls once inside the long corridor beneath the ground. I felt a small sense of relief when I reached the door that led to the golden room. The large hulking figure of Metro City’s former hero stood there, hair matted down from the shower he clearly had not long ago and his jaw now occupying a great deal of facial hair. “(Y/N)? What are you doing here?”

 

I gave him a small but genuine smile, “I’m kinda lost for options lately. Do you mind if I take up some room on your couch for a little while?”

 

“Yes,” he nodded slightly, “Of course.”

 

He waved me closer and began leading me through the home-like lair, the place filled with glass cases from past events and successes. “Unless someone comes to our aid soon, all may be lost,” the man on the news announced. I curled myself into the far corner of the soft white couch while Metro stayed standing, his eyes landing on the pearly white suit that held his signature M embellished in gold. “Thousands have already fled the city in a mass exodus. Remaining citizens are warned to stay indoors until further notice. Authorities have issued a warning to stay out of the downtown area at all costs.”

 

“Maybe we shouldn’t watch too much of this,” Metro mumbled, fingers wrapping around the small black remote that rested on the coffee table and pressing the red button that sent the television quiet. “Would you, uh… like something to drink? Coffee, maybe?

 

Pulling my legs onto the cushion, I leaned back in an attempt to relax, “Just water, please. I need to be careful of my caffeine intake.”

 

He chuckled, “What, are you on some kind of diet?”

 

“No,” I giggled, “No, it’s just not very good for the baby.” My eyes were locked on my fidgeting hands, brain now coming to a standstill at my own mention of this ‘baby’. I’d already started to accept it without even thinking. _The baby. My baby_. Metro’s total silence caused me to turn my gaze his way, his wide eyes making me realize something. “Oh! Yeah, I kind of… forgot to mention that altogether, didn’t I?”

 

A tuft of his dark hair bounced had he nodded slowly, “Just a little.”

 

 

**Third Person POV**

 

Mega sat in the darkened room, completely alone aside from the TV that hung a few feet above the ground and was switching from channel to channel thanks to the remote in the alien’s hand. He watched the screen with heavy eyes. He wasn’t tired, it just felt like the whole world was pressing down on him and all he could do was accept it.

 

“Megamind!” Tighten angrily demanded for a second before the screen was changed once again. Feeling too guilty to ignore Hal’s hateful words, Mega put himself through the punishment of listening and turned back to Channel 2, “You and I have some unfinished business. I’ll be waiting at Metro Tower. And just so you don’t get cold feet…” The camera’s view was now that of the much loved Roxanne Ritchi, her arms restrained by a bent piece of metal piping and her body held up by the reception aerials at the very peak of the tower.

 

“Roxanne,” Mega breathed, his full attention now on the fear-riddled woman.

 

Tighten’s taunting words caused Roxanne to look down in despair, “Come on, Roxie. Call for your hero to come rescue you! Or better yet, tell him to come fight for the lives of his girlfriend and kid.” Tighten’s face was once again obstructing the camera’s view, “Look at that, Megamind. (Y/N) can’t be too far away if Roxie here only just found out, so I suggest you get down here before I start looking for her,” his words all started to make sense when he held up a blurry image that didn’t show much, all except a bean-shaped outline in the middle. Hal Stewart -the super villain Tighten- was publicly threatening the child that Mega didn’t even know existed.

 

When the brown-haired woman’s face was visible once again, it was obvious that she was riddled with guilt. “Megamind… I don’t even know if you’re listening. But if you are, you can’t give up! The Megamind I knew would never have run from a fight, even when he knew he had absolutely no chance of winning. It was your best quality, and I know that (Y/N) would agree. She loves you, and she really is carrying your child. You need to be that guy right now… The city needs you… Me and (Y/N)- your baby. We need you.”

 

Mega jumped from his seat in a panicked motion and his heart began to race when Tighten announced that he would be given only one hour before his terror began to reign again.

 

 

**Reader’s POV**

 

“I used to have a crush on you, you know.”

 

“Oh, I know.”

 

“Wait, you knew!?” I laughed uncontrollably as if the city outside wasn’t being terrorised by a pissed off man with a villain complex. Metro was now leaning back against the couch with me, hands covering his face in embarrassment due to the sudden revelation that I knew all about his childhood crush. “Please tell me why you never brought this up before? Like maybe when we were kids?”

 

I grinned, head resting against my hand that was propped up by the couch’s arm, “I only found out when I was maybe… fifteen? You just made it a lot more obvious around that time. You weren’t ashamed of putting Mega in his place, but then you always tried to be nice to me, even when I chose Megamind instead.”

 

“And here you are starting a family with him.”

 

My hands subconsciously wandered down to my lower stomach that was yet to show evidence of the life inside, “I hope so. He doesn’t even know yet, and with the way things are going today, I’m worried that he never will.”

 

Metro leaned across the expanse of the couch between us to place a large but gentle hand on my knee. The silence was bittersweet as Metro offered me a sense of comfort while the thoughts of my boyfriend caused a sad longing. “Why don’t we check the news real quick? See if anything’s changed yet.”

 

I nodded and shifted so I had a better view of the TV. The screen soon flickered back to life, “-destroying the Metro Tower! I repeat: Tighten is now destroying the Metro Tower! Those that have yet to flee the city are saying that Channel 8 News reporter Roxanne Ritchi is still being held hostage at the top of the tower as it tilts! There is yet to be any sign of Megamind after Tighten’s challenge, which begs the question: Has he fled with (Y/N) and their unborn child?”

 

“How do they know…?” I thought for a second before it hit me, “Roxanne. She must have told someone when she got back into the city. She’s the only one outside of this room that I’ve told.”

 

“Hey,” Metro called out to grab my attention, “Think about it this way – if it’s being said on the news, maybe Megamind knows by now.”

 

I stared at the TV for a moment, watching as live footage was projected onto the screen of a slowly tilting Metro Tower. Finally, I smiled, “Maybe he does.” I jumped in surprise as the faint sound of music crackled through the speakers of the room, the unmistakable intro of Welcome to the Jungle by Guns N’ Roses acting as a dead giveaway that Mega was there. At least, I assumed so since they were his favourite band and he was a stickler for presentation.

 

“We’re seeing dark clouds forming around the Metro Tower, just like the ones that covered Metro City just a few weeks ago! Could this be Megaminds doing?” the reporter asked as the camera zoomed in on the large black mass that filled the sky, lightning and show lights dancing from the origin point as thunder boomed over the while city. Before long a glowing blue face shone through the cloud in the distinctive shape of my beloved, brainbots gathered in such a large group they formed a perfect image. “The tower is collapsing faster but it looks like Megamind has come to the rescue! Wait… Is the top of the tower floating? Oh god- Tighten’s going to throw it! We’ve lost sight of them, let’s go.” The camera was jostled up and down as they ran, the voice of the reporter faintly heard as he muttered, “God speed, Megamind. You’re our last hope.”

 

I sat on the edge of the couch, hands balled into fists on my lap as I watched with anticipation. The reporter and camera man seemed to have finally found where Mega and Roxanne were, but as the camera panned around the area, only the shattered form of Minion’s suit and Minion himself could be seen. “Where is he?” I worried, shoulders tensing up when he was nowhere on screen. But, miraculously, everything seemed to slow down as the screen showed none other than Metro Man floating down to the ground, his form nothing like I’d seen earlier as it was clean shaven and clad in the signature suit. Except, he was still sitting beside me, seemingly just as shocked as myself.

 

“It’s him…” Metro breathed, a slight huff of amusement escaping him upon the conclusion. And he was right. Mega was quickly revealed in front of everyone to have been the true hero of the day as Roxanne fiddled with the watch on his hand.

 

Everyone was watching in awe at the large-headed man who floated in place thanks to the jetpack on his back, their faces slowly evolving from shock to excitement. Sadly, it was too good to be true and the people were soon cowering in fear of the angered voice that echoed around them once again, “Nice try, sis. But there’s only one person I know who calls this town Metrocity.”

 

“Damn it, Mega,” I cursed. Metro and I were left in the dark about the following events as even the camera man on the scene began to flee, the live feed going dark before the camera hit the ground. The rush of emotion sent me into a fit of hyperventilation, tears threatening to break free but I didn’t care. “What if he dies and I don’t know about it!? Oh God… I can’t- I can’t-“

 

My struggle to form words was stopped as Metro moved closer and wrapped his large arms around me, “(Y/N), you have to calm down. Think about the baby. This kind of worrying isn’t healthy, so please, follow me and breathe.” He looked down at me and made a demonstration of taking deep breaths. Knowing that he was right, I closed my eyes and listened to his breathing, my own lungs taking similar breaths until I felt my heart rate decrease to a normal level. “That’s better, you’re doing fine.” A muted sound began playing from across the room and Metro was quick to check it out, his increased hearing leading him to my jacket that had been placed on one of the wall hangers. He reached into the pocket and pulled out my ringing phone, taking one glance at the caller ID before answering, “Hello?... Roxanne! You’re alright!... Yes, of course, I’ll let her know right now.” He hung up.

 

“Looks like you’ve got a meeting with Metro City’s new hero.”

 

 

It thankfully didn’t take too long to drive into the city, mostly due to no traffic on the streets and no police roaming around to prevent speeding. My foot quickly found the break pedal once the crowd of people were in sight.

 

I made quick work of abandoning the car, not even bothering to take the keys out of the ignition or close the door before running into the mass of people, many of them moving out of the way before I even reached them as if they knew to let me through. Then again, mine and Mega’s relationship was no secret.

 

My breath caught in my throat the second the final few people stepped aside and he was in my sight. It seemed that the murmuring of the crowd in that direction had held the attention of the blue man and brunette woman as they were both watching and waiting, and as soon as I regained the ability to breathe, I pushed myself forward into a fast walk until his arms were tightly holding me to his chest. “You did it,” I whispered.

 

“We won,” he chuckled breathily, “We won.” I made a short sound of remembrance before pulling away from him, his eyes filled with confusion until he saw the small scrap of paper that I pulled out of my pocket. _Good thing I asked for two copies_. “Is that…?” He was obviously too overwhelmed to finish his question, but he didn’t need to. He knew that the tiny, misshapen blob in the centre of the dark photograph was his child. Staring for a few moments longer, he started giggling, the sound increasing until it bounced between the tall buildings around us, “I’m gonna be a father!” The surrounding crowd cheered with him and gathered closer to celebrate with the excited father-to-be, but recoiled the minute he pulled out his dehydration gun, “Get back, you savages!”

 

I could only laugh as he held me close. “Sorry! Sorry! He’s just not used to positive feedback,” Roxanne thankfully called out, hand forcing the gun to point at the floor.

 

 

Later that week, after Megamind’s public naming as the new hero of Metro City and his start on the city’s reconstruction, he and I sat in a private corner of the fanciest restaurant in town. We were joined by Roxanne and a hardly-recognizable Metro Man – or as he now preferred: Music Man. We agreed that Scott was an appropriate nickname since it was the name of his adoptive family after landing on earth.

 

“I just realized- (Y/N), you never told us how far along you were,” he spoke, large shoulders sliding back as he relaxed in the cushioned seat.

 

I smiled with light embarrassment, wondering how it had never come up in the past week, “Six weeks yesterday.”

 

“I have to ask,” Roxanne jumped in, “Aren’t you nervous about…” Her eyes glanced at an oblivious Mega, or more specifically, his larger-than-average head.

 

“Oh, absolutely.”

 

“I don’t understand,” he said, head turning between us girls with the most confused expression, “What are you concerned about? Did I do something wrong?” he whispered.

 

I chuckled, “No, sweetheart. You’ve done nothing wrong, nothing at all. But I will ask: how large was your head when you were born?”

 

He sat with a look of contemplation before offering me what could only be a simple guess, “I don’t quite remember. Much smaller than it is now. But if I recall, it was slightly larger than the human babies you see now. Why do you ask?”

 

“I’ll explain when we get home, I promise,” I grinned, leaning closer to him as I took his hand in mine and brought it to my lips, laying a loving kiss on the middle knuckle.

 

The evening was fun and calm, various topics of conversation being passed around, ranging from how the food tasted to how Roxanne’s new reporter status was going, and finally to how each of us experienced childhood. The Ritchi family was apparently quite successful from how Roxanne described it, her father being a well-known surgeon in a different city and her mother quite popular among the art community. Everyone knew most of Scott and Mega’s backgrounds, they were practically black and white; Scott was raised as the golden boy in a rich family while Mega was raised by inmates inside a literal prison.

 

I was almost surprised when Roxanne turned to me with the inevitable question of what shaped me today. “Oh, um… I…”

 

“You don’t have to say anything if you don’t want to,” Mega cut off my stuttering.

 

I watched him for a second. I could physically feel the growing love in my heart and that alone made it easier. “It’s alright. We’re letting people in, aren’t we? If I want to trust anyone that isn’t you or Minion, then I’ll be happy to let these guys be the start of it.” By now the two sat across from us were thoroughly confused, but the exchange that was said with so much seriousness had them listening quite intently. “Obviously you both know that I went to school at Lil’ Gifted’s, but before then I had a pretty standard life. I was five when my parents left me at home for the evening with a babysitter- she was practically the coolest person I knew at the time so I didn’t mind. I didn’t even know that anything was wrong when she kept looking at the old clock that was in the living room.” The story didn’t make me outwardly emotional anymore, it was so long ago, after all. Regardless, I gave myself a second to think about how to continue. “It’d been three hours after my parents were supposed to be home that I figured out they were late. It was two days later when I accepted that they weren’t coming home.”

 

Roxanne breathed an “Oh my” as Scott moved to ask the obvious, “What happened?”

 

“A car accident. The other car apparently didn’t have any lights on so they probably never saw it coming.” I let out a sad chuckle, “It’s really something that a five year old can’t process quickly. I cried for days, but eventually it settled in that nothing I did would bring them back, so I just went silent for a long time. Eventually, I was sent to live with my dad’s sister, my only living relative left. But- she didn’t want to deal with me. Spent a lot of money to send me away and that’s how I ended up in Metro City, attending the Lil’ Gifted School For Lil’ Gifted Kids not long after.”

 

Mega reached over the wrap his fingers around the hand that rested on the white tablecloth. He already knew the whole story, and I knew that every time he heard it, it broke his heart. He knew what it was like to live without family – but now here he was, starting one of his own. I only wished that both our parents were here to experience our next steps in life. “Remember how I was really reclusive, back at school?” I asked, looking in Scott’s direction and receiving an affirmative not, “Well, you could say I was mad at the world. That’s probably why I was so drawn to Mega, the kid that had almost nothing going his way since walking through the door of Lil’ Gifted’s. The minute I started speaking to him, I knew he’d be my only chance at enjoying anything again,” I finished, eyes lingering on the man in question.

 

I didn’t know if he was sad from rehearing my childhood misery, or happy because I said something bordering romantic. Either way, his eyes were brimming with tears. “Why did that sound like one of your TV show proposals?”

 

I burst into hysterical laughter right there and then. No gradual build up, just instant giggles that wracked my body. “That wasn’t my intention! Oh god, what have I done?”

 

“If you’re asking then I’m saying yes, but I feel like we need to clarify if you’re actually asking or not.”

 

“Please stop so I don’t cry my make-up away,” I huffed between fits of giggles. Once the breath returned to my lungs and I was capable of speaking without going off again, I turned in my seat and looked at Mega with the most heartfelt look I could muster, “Are you _really_ saying yes?”

 

His back straightened and I could see that there was no conviction in his gaze, “Yes, I am.”

 

“Then yes, I’m _really_ asking. Will you marry me?”

 

The widest grin I had ever seen spread over his face and if it weren’t a happy occasion, I’d be worried that he might hurt himself. A slender blue hand reached up and carefully cupped the back of my head, gently pulling me closer until he could reach and it was our most love-filled kiss yet, even if it only lasted a couple seconds. I couldn’t resist the giggle that fell from my lips as Roxanne clapped, her hushed voice still very audible as she told Scott “I was _really_ not expecting this” and I pulled away from my now-fiancé to press my forehead to his.

 

 _Being the hero might feel great, but I guarantee that it doesn’t feel as good as this_.

**Author's Note:**

> I honestly didn't even intend on having a proposal at the end, it just came to mind while writing the last few paragraphs and it ended up going in. Maybe I was eager to finally get this finished and posted, but I'm genuinely glad I got it done. Even if it's not even close to what people were asking for... XD


End file.
